Times columnist Helene Elliott rates the pluses and minuses in the NHL from the last week: + Now comes the fun part. The All-Star game is behind us, the trade deadline is less than a month away —noon Pacific time Feb. 27 — and the buyers will soon separate themselves from the sellers. The crazy-rumor quotient will skyrocket. + The NHL does a good job connecting with fans at the All-Star game with fan fairs, skills contests and community events. Now it's time to figure out a way to give the game some meaning or create a new event.

Times columnist Helene Elliott rates the pluses and minuses in the NHL from the previous week: + Chicago wing Patrick Kane is giving Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby a good challenge for the scoring title. Kane's assist Sunday in the Blackhawks' 3-1 victory over the Kings extended his point streak to nine games and 21 of his last 22. Through Sunday's games he had 19 goals and 45 points, one point behind Crosby. + The Vancouver Canucks seem to have grasped Coach John Tortorella's defensive intensity.

Five questions 1 How is Sidney Crosby's head? The Penguins' superstar center played only 22 games last season because of concussion-related problems, and every time he takes a hit to the head it's impossible to avoid holding your breath for a half-second to see if he's OK. Crosby came back for the second time in mid-March and played in Pittsburgh's no-defense, first-round playoff loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. During the lockout he participated in some collective bargaining sessions and worked out and said he was ready to go. 2 Where is Ilya Bryzgalov's head?

Their game, their gold, but the Olympic hockey finale between Canada and the U.S. belonged to history before the roars triggered by Sidney Crosby's overtime goal had faded by so much as a decibel Sunday. Crosby, whose silence the previous two games had led a nation to brood, took a pass from Jarome Iginla and rifled a shot through the legs of U.S. goaltender Ryan Miller 7 minutes 40 seconds into overtime, giving Canada a 3-2 victory in the last event of perhaps the last Olympic tournament that will include NHL players.

The Pittsburgh Penguins took most of the fun out of speculation leading up to Wednesday's noon Pacific trade deadline when they pulled off major deals last week for veteran wingers Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla and defenseman Douglas Murray. Their acquisition of Iginla was bizarre. Several major media outlets, led by Canada's TSN, reported he had been sent to Boston and it was a done deal. Except it wasn't. Iginla, who waived his no-move clause, decided he preferred Pittsburgh and went there for two prospects and a first-round draft pick.

Joe Pavelski had a goal and an assist in his first game back from the injured list and Evgeni Nabokov made 27 saves as the San Jose Sharks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins for the seventh straight time at home, 5-0, on Saturday night. Penguins star Sidney Crosby was held pointless for a fourth straight game for the fourth time in his career. He hit the post with a shot early in the second period but was unable to convert against Nabokov and the Sharks. Dan Boyle, Dany Heatley, Jamie McGinn and Manny Malhotra also scored for San Jose.

Sidney Crosby scored twice in the third period and had the only goal in the shootout, and the Pittsburgh Penguins overcame a two-goal deficit to win their seventh straight game, 3-2, against the Florida Panthers on Friday night. Crosby had a power-play goal and a short-handed score in regulation, then beat Tomas Vokoun with a deke in the shootout to help the Penguins improve to an NHL-best 9-1-0. Steven Reinprecht scored twice in the first period for Florida. The Panthers have lost six of seven to drop to 2-5-1.

Sidney Crosby took over the NHL scoring lead Wednesday night with a career-high six points in the Pittsburgh Penguins' 8-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh. Crosby had one goal and five assists to give him 47 points this season, three more than New York Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr. Colorado 4, St. Louis 1 -- Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist each at Denver and the Avalanche sent the Blues to their ninth consecutive loss. Jamal Mayers scored the goal for St.

Guillaume Latendresse scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period after getting a career-high three assists, giving the Minnesota Wild enough to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-3, on Monday night. For the fifth time in 22 games this season, the Penguins lost after scoring first, this time on Sidney Crosby's early goal. Crosby tied the score at 3-3 in the first minute of the third period with his 29th goal. The Penguins have lost eight of 11. -- associated press